A COMMUNITY activist has told how helping others overcome social injustice has helped in her own battle against depression, and given her a new sense of purpose.

Caring Kath Carter, from Ragworth, Stockton, has devoted much of the past few years to looking after her husband and son, who both suffer from multiple health problems.

However, working with Thrive, an organisation giving ordinary people skills to become community organisers, and a branch of Church Action on Poverty, has given her a new focus in life.

The Thrive is one of only three in Britain, run by Mary Gonzales who, together with US president Barack Obama, once worked in some of Chicago’s poorest neighbourhoods to highlight the issues affecting the underprivileged.

Kath is helping families take on a company called Buy as you View, which charges up to 39.9% interest on household goods.

This has enabled the 61-year-old to get out and meet new people, and means she no longer needs to take the anti-depressant medication. Kath said: “I have a break out of the house now and my other three sons help with the caring. It’s given me back a sense of purpose.”

Kath, a former market trader who retired from her job as a senior nursing home carer to support her husband and son full-time, now lives on benefits.

She became determined to tackle the trap many people find themselves in when it comes to obtaining affordable credit.

Speaking of her fight against organisations like Buy as You View, Kath said: “I think it’s disgusting being taken advantage of. They know exactly what they are doing. We are a target market - an easy market - and nobody seems bothered about this.

“In other countries, there is a cap on interest rates and we haven’t got that. Many companies sell what they want here and charge high interest, but they are not allowed to operate abroad.”

In her role as a volunteer community organiser for Thrive, Kath became part of a group who took on the Buy As You View hire-purchase company and the Office of Fair Trading, to help the poorest people in her community.

Both Kath and Rae Oram, another trainee community organiser, were customers of Buy as You View, which collects direct debit payments via boxes connected to their televisions, for other household goods like kitchen appliances.

The Thrive course has helped people like Rae fight back from poverty, as Kath, who appears on a BBC documentary tonight, explains. “Rae has evolved and gained confidence,” she said.

“People are coming out the other side and are realising the little woman on the street can make a difference. Thrive fights for social justice and we’ve also just had a successful campaign for safer traffic in our area. We fight for the injustice people see and think they can’t help.”

She added: “We give people the knowledge to fight for what they want and don’t do anything that they could do themselves. Instead of fishing people out of the water downstream, we like to go upstream and see who’s pushing them in.”